Scott Morrison hits back at grave claims made in Robodebt Royal Commission

Scott Morrison says the findings of the royal commission into robodebt are “unsubstantiated” after he was raked across the coals in a report.

Scott Morrison has attacked the findings of the robodebt royal commission as “completely wrong”.

The former prime minister took to parliament on Monday afternoon to bring out his harshest criticisms of the report yet, as well as savaging the Albanese government as orchestrating a “campaign of political lynching” against him.

In early July, Commissioner Catherine Holmes handed down a 990-page report into the robodebt scandal, an unlawful automated debt recovery scheme that aimed to find discrepancies between what income welfare recipients received and what they were paid.

Scott Morrison says the findings of the royal commission into robodebt are “unsubstantiated” in an address to parliament. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

It illegally recovered more than $750m from 380,000 people from 2015 to 2019 and also sent incorrect debt notices to more than 400,000 Australians.

The scheme has also been linked to a number of suicides.

“I do, however, completely reject the commission‘s adverse findings in the published report regarding my own role... as disproportionate, wrong, unsubstantiated and contradicted by clear evidence presented to the commission,” Mr Morrison said.
“As Minister for Social Services, I’ve played no role and had no responsibility in the operation or administration of the robodebt scheme.”

The former prime minister received the strongest criticism of any current or former politician in the report, with Commissioner Holmes finding he had misled the cabinet and failed in his duties by not ensuring the legality of income averaging.

Mr Morrison said that these findings, as well as allegations that he provided untrue evidence to the commission and pressured officials to hurry the scheme along, were “unfounded and wrong”.

He also claimed that the government was politicising the scandal to attack him.

“This campaign of political lynching has once again included the weaponisation of a quasi-legal process to launder the government‘s political vindictiveness, they need to move on,” he said.

“I say to the government, instead of trying to distract attention from their own failings by relentlessly pursuing these transparently partisan campaigns against me that they get on with the job they promised to do and a failing to do.”

He went on to say that the findings “unfairly and retroactively applies a consensus of the understanding of the lawful status of the scheme [in 2015] that simply was not present or communicated at the time”.

Mr Morrison also argued that the former Labor opposition at the time did not take issue with the scheme in 2015.

“For the government to now condemn me for holding a view that they shared and sustained for more than three years after I left the portfolio, is rank hypocrisy,” he said.

More to come.

Originally published as Scott Morrison hits back at grave claims made in Robodebt Royal Commission